CS1x Midi and Garageband

[Tomatoe74]

Hi guys.
Looking for some help here. Ive decided to dip my toes into the MIDI world and see if it works for me. Up until now ive recorded everything pretty much analogue and through 8 tracks (digital and analogue). Anyway, i recently bought a MIDI to USB cable, hooked that up to my Yamaha CS1x (as a controller, as i dont have a dedicated MIDI keyboard) and have tried to get Garageband on my Mac book to recognize it. I cant get seem to get any sound from it. Now is there anyone here who could help me out in setting this thing up so i can have a crack at MIDI production? Any advice would be welcome!

[frunk]

This is exactly my problem. Are there any settings which I must make in the CS1x? Garageband seems to notice that there is a midi connection, but the connection itself does not seem to work.

Anyone out there who might give me an hint what I should try? Thank you so much for an answer!

[FailedMuso]

First things first...

Connect your USB to MIDI cable at both ends, ensuring that you have the 5-pin DIN MIDI plugs connected to the correct ports. I have seen some of these USB cables mark the plugs up incorrectly, so try swapping them over to see if that sorts the issue out. Typically, you connect the MIDI OUT port of your computer to the MIDI IN port on the synth, and the MIDI IN port of the computer to the MIDI OUT port of the synth. It seems some of these cable manufacturers either label their MIDI ports to match the names of what you would find on the computer, and some label them to match the device they're being plugged into. Either way, you won't do any harm by swapping them around to check.

You can download a free MIDI Monitor app for macOS here...

https://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/

Install this and make sure your MIDI cable is selected in the Sources menu. If everything is connected correctly, you will see MIDI data streaming through the MIDI Monitor window like this...

Screenshot 2020-08-25 at 15.16.42.png

Next, open the Audio MIDI set up app in macOS. This is found in the Utilities folder in Applications, or just search for it in Spotlight. This will open up a couple of windows, one of which is the MIDI Studio. If your USB to MIDI cable is connected and compatible, it will show up as an item in the MIDI Studio window. If it is greyed out, there may be an issue with the cable. It 'should' be class compliant, so should not need any drivers. However, I have seen many, many cheap, Chinese-made USB MIDI cables that are flaky as heck.

Assuming that you have everything connected properly, open up Garageband and select Preferences from the Garageband drop down on the menu bar. Select Audio/MIDI and just hit Reset MIDI Drivers to make Garageband scan for devices again.

If this doesn't work, make sure the MIDI HOST Select switch on the rear is set to MIDI and NOT any of the others. This shouldn't be a problem, as this switch relates to the TG port, but just to be safe

You might also want to check the CS1x MIDI settings as detailed on page 41 and 42 of the user manual...

http://www.synthfool.com/docs/Yamaha/CS ... Manual.pdf

Hopefully, some of the above will help.